A proposed law aims to make young people born after 2014 the first tobacco-free generation

By Le Nouvel Obs with AFP

Published on November 4, 2025 at 11:02 AM

Reading time: 2 min.

This proposed law specifically addresses the objective of achieving the first tobacco-free generation by 2032. — This proposed law aims, in particular, to achieve the goal of a first tobacco-free generation by 2032. EVA PLEVIER / ANP VIA AFP

Creating the first tobacco-free generation: Green Party MP Nicolas Thierry announced on Tuesday, November 4, the filing of a cross-party bill aimed at banning the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2014, a measure supported by patient and anti-tobacco associations.

"The objective is very clear: to stop young people from getting into smoking by ceasing to offer them access to the product," explains the MP for the 2nd constituency of Gironde to AFP, who wants to "definitively stop the smoking epidemic" through a "generational and progressive ban" .

In short, starting January 1, 2032, it would be illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born after January 1, 2014, even if they are of legal age—a measure welcomed by organizations such as the League Against Cancer and the Alliance Against Tobacco (ACT). The ban would apply to all tobacco products, including heated tobacco, "the new battleground for tobacco companies," as the ACT happily notes.

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"Faced with the ingenuity of the tobacco industry, which tries to minimize the danger, only drastic measures will make it possible to protect future generations," argues Philippe Bergerot, president of the League Against Cancer.

"Stabilization" of the prevalence of smoking since 2020

In France, tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death: it kills 75,000 people per year with an overall "social cost" (deaths, illnesses, production losses, prevention, repression and care expenses, for the State) estimated at 156 billion euros by the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

After a decline between 2014 and 2019, the latest available data "tend to show a recent stabilization " in smoking prevalence "since 2020," according to the explanatory memorandum. Smoking rates have since resumed their downward trend, according to the latest survey by Public Health France: one in four people aged 18 to 75 smoked tobacco in 2024, compared to nearly one in three in 2021, as shown by the initial results of its barometer published in mid-October.

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While "anti-smoking policies are working rather well: smoke-free areas, plain packaging, price increases [...] imagining that the fight is won is illusory," the MP points out.

This bill also responds to the objective of achieving the first tobacco-free generation by 2032, that is to say, reaching less than 5% prevalence of smoking in adulthood for generations born from 2014 onwards.

"On several occasions, the public authorities have stated such an objective - the Minister of Health in 2014 or the President of the Republic in 2021 - and the 2032 horizon now appears in the latest National Tobacco Control Program (2023-2027)," the text recalls.

"Decrease demand very slowly, without a tipping point effect"

This French anti-smoking plan is part of the objective set by the European Union to achieve a tobacco-free generation with less than 5% of the EU population consuming tobacco products by 2040.

For now, this cross-party bill is supported by around twenty MPs from seven different groups, ranging from La France Insoumise (LFI) to Horizons, explains Nicolas Thierry. The MP also hopes that the government will support his proposal, which could be placed on the agenda during the next session when the National Assembly debates cross-party bills.

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Anticipating criticism from tobacco advocates who might argue that this measure risks causing parallel markets to explode or tobacconists to disappear, Nicolas Thierry emphasizes that the gradual nature of the measure will "decrease demand very slowly, without a tipping point effect" .

"We must also accept that it is not acceptable to perpetuate an economic model based solely on a health scourge," he said, also pointing to its ecological and social impact, with tobacco cultivation contributing to "about 5% of global deforestation," while more than 1.3 million children still work in tobacco fields around the world.

A similar initiative has been launched in the United Kingdom, where a total and definitive ban on the sale of cigarettes to people born after 2009 is being discussed in Parliament.

By Le Nouvel Obs with AFP

Le Nouvel Observateur

A proposed law aims to make young people born after 2014 the first tobacco-free generation

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